Recreational vehicles that are intended to be moved between locations at which they function as temporary housing benefit from having living areas that can be increased when the vehicles are not being transported. One way to provide an expandable living area is to use a slide-out. A slide-out typically has three walls, a floor, and a ceiling, and fits within a larger central living area when a vehicle is being transported, and is slid out to extend outward from a side of the vehicle when it is not being transported. Examples of vehicles with slide-outs can be found in at least U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,623,058, 6,293,612, 6,290,284, 6,286,883, 6,170,903, 6,135,525, 6,098,346, 5,248,180, 4,480,866, 3,719,386, 2,965,412, 2,704,203, 2,225,319, and 2,177,394, herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.
Over time, recreational vehicle size has increased. Vehicle size increases, particularly increases in length, have made it desirable to increase slide-out lengths as a full wall slide-out (i.e. a slide-out extending along more than half of the length of the side of the vehicle it slides out from) provides a larger increase in living area than a shorter slide-out. Unfortunately, increased slide-out length presents difficulties in vehicle design that have yet to be overcome. As such, there is a need for improved vehicle structures and construction methods that facilitate the use of extended length slide-outs.